THE percussion synthesiser, absolutely! It doesn't have that xtreme 808low-end, but if you are into alternative beatnoises a la Aphex Twin, kicks ass, dude! Minor bummer: the resonance is too easy to overdrive(only 7 values), a bit thin overall sonic quality. Some fx could be a nice addition. No substitute for a trad beatbox, but for other purposes, check it out...

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Tuesday-Jun-04-2002 at 04:50

Brutal Enigma
a part-time user
from US
writes:

This is a pretty old piece and it is missing some things. You will not want to use it without some external effects. Some of the realistic drum sounds are decent - but not great by today's standards. Everyone knows the cymbals blow.

This thing is EXTREMELY programmable. Everyone says you can make great hard techy-industrial sounds and it's true. You can also make astounding minimal/mellow alien-sounding otherworld beat type sounds as well. Velocity can control alot of parameters so if you have a drum controller of some kind, this unit shines. I'm an electronic drummer and I'm not satisfied with this unit as my only sound source but I have a couple of other units to carry the areas where the XD-5 is weak. If you're really into weird twisted drums - this unit is a 5 for sure. If you want 909 clones, then maybe a 3. Acoustic drum simulations - don't bother - maybe a 1 for the kicks. I'm gonna give it a 4 because I like the weird stuff.

I might sell mine someday if I ever get another sampler - but not before trying to approximate alot of the sounds I've programmed into it.

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Wednesday-Feb-27-2002 at 10:56

RogerBob
a hobbyist user
from Canada
writes:

Nice ethno sounds in it. Like all the others said, good for electronica-industrial music. I used it intensively at first, but when I bought a sampler this rompler hadn't any much reason to stay in my rack since I've sampled all of XD5 sounds. The only thing I could miss is the ring modulation, other that that, my sampler can generate the same programs (even those autobended electronic toms) with better panning and resonance settings and sound as good. I don't recommend the XD5 as a great buy, I would prefer the sampler option with some good drum sample CD in the actual time context. In 1990 the XD-5 could have been a good buy but rigth now with some rompler (albeit a little more expensive) boosting up to 128 meg of rom (not all dedicated to drums but still many possible percussion sounds) compared to the 256 internal sounds of the XD5. But if you are craving on its sounds and interface so much, please don't listen to me and go buy one (I've got one to sell by the way) ;)

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Saturday-Sep-08-2001 at 22:17

Henry
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:

The XD-5 can be a little strange to figure out at first, but don't feel confined to use it only with MIDI. I like to sometimes, make a crazy kick and beepy snares with some spacy hats, put it all in acid then throw it in audiomulch and you've got one crazy industrial beat. The editing is fun, but because this is my first rack, it's harder to use in a playable sense. Can't be beat for the price (around 80 bucks if your lucky). great for electro indiustrial.

Henry www.mp3.com/coveted

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Friday-Apr-27-2001 at 12:00

The Sawblade
a hobbyist user
from That Permanent Interdimensional Void
writes:

Ok, the cymbals aren't total crap. Just some of the preset kits, but most of them are okay. Actually managed to get some decent techno hihats out of it which required a lot of tweaking. I actually programmed a short little song using my new Q-80 sequencer to test some of the instrumental waves... So I'm having lots of fun with my fist drum synth or whatever... Never heard of Kawai before now... strange...